The Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Dix (FCI Fort Dix) is a low-security United States
federal prison
A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for convicts who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), inmates considered dangerous (Brazil), or those s ...
for male offenders in New Jersey. It is operated by the
Federal Bureau of Prisons. A satellite prison camp houses minimum-security male inmates.
FCI Fort Dix is located in Burlington County adjacent to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. It is approximately from
Philadelphia. Fort Dix is the largest single federal prison in the United States in the number of inmates housed there.
It is divided up into three compounds: The separate East and West Compounds (both low-level, each constituting a single prison in its own right) and a camp between the two.
Notable incidents
Identity theft ring
In early 2010, a joint FBI and Federal Bureau of Prisons investigation found that Dimorio McDowell (50711-019), an inmate at FCI Fort Dix, was operating a major
identity theft ring from the prison. Eight co-conspirators, with whom McDowell communicated by telephone, were also arrested. The ring targeted credit cards issued by major chain stores such as Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Staples, Home Depot, Lowes and others. McDowell and his co-conspirators obtained the personal information of credit card holders through customer service departments and added themselves as authorized users. When McDowell's co-conspirators went to make purchases, they showed false identification or provided the last four digits of the cardholder's Social Security number and charged high-end items such as a John Deere tractor, big-screen televisions, snow blowers and stoves. The companies that issued the cards, including Citigroup Financial, HSBC and GE Capital, lost between $500,000 to $1 million.
McDowell subsequently pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit
wire fraud and
bank fraud
Bank fraud is the use of potentially illegal means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institution, or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently posing as a bank or other financial institution. In many ins ...
and was sentenced to 14 additional years in prison on January 18, 2011. McDowell is currently incarcerated at the
United States Penitentiary
The Federal Bureau of Prisons classifies prisons into seven categories:
* United States penitentiaries
* Federal correctional institutions
* Private correctional institutions
* Federal prison camps
* Administrative facilities
* Federal correctio ...
in
Atlanta, which has a
Communication Management Unit, where inmate contact with the outside world is severely restricted and tightly monitored. He is scheduled for release in 2028.
Notable inmates (current and former)
High-profile inmates
Politicians
Fraudsters
Others
See also
*
List of U.S. federal prisons
*
Incarceration in the United States
References
{{Federal Bureau of Prisons
Buildings and structures in Burlington County, New Jersey
Fort Dix
Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force A ...
Prisons in New Jersey